The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and a method for transferring multiple workpieces stacked one above the other on a mounting surface in order from the top.
Conventionally, an apparatus that includes a base member, to which non-contact chucks are mounted, and a moving mechanism, which moves the base member, and a method that uses the apparatus have been proposed (for example, refer to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2012-142491). The non-contact chucks disclosed in the above publication are called Bernoulli chucks, which eject high-pressure air in a radial pattern from multiple ejection ports provided on the suction surface of each chuck. With this configuration, air is discharged from the gap between the suction surface of each chuck and the workpiece toward the outer periphery, and the airflow generates a negative pressure in the central section. The above-described chuck draws the workpiece without contact by utilizing the negative pressure.
In the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2012-142491, the non-contact chucks draw the uppermost one of multiple workpieces stacked one above the other, and a moving mechanism such as a parallel mechanism robot moves the base member, to which the chucks are mounted, to transfer the workpiece.